Ygnacio Martinez

Ygnacio Martinez (1774-1848) was the Alcalde of Yerba Buena, Grantee of the Rancho El Pinole, and commander of the Presidio of San Francisco.

Biography
Ygnacio Martinez was born in Mexico City, New Spain in 1774 to a family of Spanish descent, and he was a soldier in Alta California by 1822. In 1827, as a lieutenant stationed at the Presidio of San Francisco, Martinez met with American explorer Jedediah Smith and helped to facilitate his travels towards the Columbia River in the north. In 1837, he became the fourth Alcalde of Yerba Buena (now San Francisco), and he was granted the Rancho El Pinole in 1842. His daughter Maria Antonia Martinez married the English settler William A. Richardson, the founder of Sausalito. Martinez died in 1848.